Final answer

Before


After


We went with the nurse.

I did go in and visit the tattoo studio earlier in the day, and the guy there (not hairy at all...more of a skinhead in fact) showed me the equipment they use to sterilize the jewelry, and the individually packaged, disposable piercing needles. He also explained that the gun is actually banned, which is beyond absurd in my opinion, but which explains a lot in terms of how hard it's been to find a place that pierces ears.

It all looked very acceptable, but it turned out that they don't use the topical anesthetic like the nurse does. He said it closes up the pores and ultimately the skin sustains more damage. However, I suspect that must be more of a factor in alternative type piercings than in simple earring holes.

They also charge five times more than the nurse ($12 per piercing as opposed to $5 for the whole thing), but it was the anesthetic that was the deciding factor. Once Robin made the decision and we said she could do it, there had been very little dithering or indecisiveness, but she was still pretty nervous about it. She actually tried to back out at the very last minute, but the nurse and I encouraged her and she agreed to go through with it, sitting on my lap and holding on to my hand.

I asked the nurse how much experience she had, and she said she's been piercing ears for 30 years and usually gets one or two a day, but actually had seven in a three-hour period on Friday.

I think we did the right thing under the circumstances. It was hard enough for her with the anesthetic (plus ice); a needle followed by insertion of the earrings and with no numbing agent probably would have been too much. But remember my original reason for wanting to look into the tattoo place? Yeah, that.

Oh well.

Like grandmother, like granddaughter, I always say.